1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods for milling installed pavement, such as asphalt, concrete, and tarmac. More specifically, the present invention relates to systems and methods that enhance the thorough milling of installed pavement.
2. The Relevant Technology
Pavement milling is currently employed to remove existing pavement for reconstruction, resurfacing, or reuse. Known pavement milling assemblies are attached to a drivable construction vehicle, such as a front end loader, forward of the wheels or tracks thereof. The construction vehicle then propels the attached pavement milling assembly over pavement preselected for milling.
Known asphalt milling assemblies have drawbacks, however.
For example, known pavement milling assemblies reliably retain the pavement material being milled, only when the depth of the cut of the pavement material to be milled is the maxim milling depth attainable using the pavement milling assembly being employed. Otherwise, known pavement milling assemblies permit dislodged paving material that is being pulverized into granules to escape from the milling assembly, becoming lost or unusable. Typically, the pavement material that escapes from a pavement milling assembly in this manner has not been milled sufficiently to be in granules of a desirably small size. To avoid being wasted, the escaped pavement material must be collected manually and reprocessed in supplemental equipment before becoming of a size acceptable for reuse. This is costly and inefficient, and frequently is simply not performed at all.
Then also, most known pavement milling assemblies are supported in part on a wheel that upholds the front end of the pavement milling assembly on the surface of the pavement to be milled in the direction of the forward travel of the pavement milling assembly itself. This support of the pavement milling assembly on a relatively small area of pavement that is about to be milled determines the depth at which milling occurs. Unfortunately, as a propelling vehicle drives the pavement milling assembly from behind, over uneven surfaces, partially-milled material, or other debris, contact between the support wheel and the pavement is frequently lost entirely. Thus, it is difficult to precisely control the depth at which pavement milling occurs.
In addition propelling vehicles experience numerous mechanical problems, such as hydraulic leaks, that cause the connection between the propelling vehicle and the pavement milling assembly to drift, to adjust, or to be temporarily lost. If the depth of pavement milling is to be maintained constant, the occurrence of such exigencies require repeated corrective adjustments and accommodations to the propelling vehicle and to the attachment between the propelling vehicle and the pavement milling assembly.